untitled
by EquusGold
Summary: A piece that has been floating around my computer. I just thought I should share because someone may like it. If you enjoy please follow and review and I will update. (And I will find a title and form a proper summary if people are interested.) Rating may go up if it is continued.


I slipped the pack over my shoulder and climb from the room, my soft hide boots silent against the wooden walls as I hung from my sill for a brief moment. The night was cool and sharp and the moon features only as a slight curve in the sky, hidden behind heavy, lingering clouds. It was still too dark out for my opinion. Everyone in this accursed place had eyes as keen, if not keener, than my youthful ones and I was going to be painfully exposed until I was deep within the forest and out of sight. Even then I would not be safe… but this was not the time for such thoughts.

I kept my feet close underneath me as I shimmied across my window and then edged my fingers into the almost miniscule cracks where the wood slotted together to form the wall. I couldn't help but be silently grateful that my fingers were long and slender rather than thick and strong. I slowly crept across the walls, praying that no one would decide on a midnight walk and happen to look directly upwards. Knowing my luck though, that would be just the case.

I was fortunate however and managed to get to the very corner of the building where the roof sloped down considerably. I knew from experience that this way was easier than just climbing directly upwards from my window. So I prised one hand off the wall at a time and relocated it to the roof with its wooden shingles, making sure I had a solid grip before I even contemplated moving a single finger on my other hand. I knew I was perhaps being over cautious, even as the ridiculously slow pace at which I was moving my arms groan quietly, but if I made even the slightest mistake now and got captured that would be it. The end, goodbye, that's all folks. But for all my depressing thoughts over the last few months, I just wasn't going to let that happen. If I screwed up now I would just let go and fall four stories, being extra careful to drop on my head. Hopefully that would solve any issues that may occur. I was still hoping that would be a last resort however, as I really had no desire to test the hardness of my pathetic human skull.

With such inspiring thoughts whirring around my head, I braced my arms and then pulled myself up, using nothing but my upper body strength. Even when I managed to haul my arse over that particularly angular roof I had to hold on tightly for grim death in case the shingles decided that they weren't exactly fond of being attached to the roof anymore. As it was, the roof was very steep and I had trouble even getting my feet beneath me. Once I did though, it was simply a matter of scrambling to the beam in the very centre of the roof, which I did with all the grace of a pregnant Oliphant. I just hope I didn't make the noise equivalent, because silence was all I was really going for. Grace be damned, so long as no one was actually watching me I didn't give a hoot.

Upon reaching the beam I sat for a moment, one leg dangling down either side of the building as I caught my breath again. Everything looked so peaceful from above; there was no inkling of the bloodshed that this place had been built upon. There was no indication of the lies, deceit, torture, murder and other monstrous deeds that occurred inside those reinforced iron gates. Shaking my head to clear the vile memories that like to creep up on me when I wasn't looking, I stood again and turned my back on the view, creeping along the highest point of the roof as though I were simply on flat ground. I didn't really make a difference to me, though the heights still liked to make my skin crawl a little, but I appreciated that sensation, easily remembering the days not so long ago when being anything above my own height made me shaky at the knees, a nauseous feeling roiling in my stomach. Nowadays, I was every bit as at home up here as the owl that was swooping lazily overhead, prey clutched in its fierce, curved talons.

At the far end of the roof I stopped again, contemplating for perhaps the final time if my plan was actually going to work. I was less than a hundred percent sure when I had begun this little venture of mine, so the fact that my chances consistently seemed to get slimmer by the moment wasn't exactly enough to deter me. They were however enough to remind me that I'm actually a dumb ass and need to think things through more before I leap into action. An unfortunate character flaw of mine, and one that's not likely to change anytime in the foreseeable future anyway. Not that my future seemed very foreseeable any longer. In fact any future I might have had was beginning to look fairly null and void. Still not enough to deter me, but it did give me a moment of pause as I looked at the swaying treetops that rustled ever so slightly in the breeze. Trees that no longer seemed quite so ancient and solid; now they seemed rather spindly and not-so-solid, rather like saplings than great monstrosities that were centuries old. But I knew that was just my mind playing tricks as it was oft to do. It was fed by my common sense which was telling me that all of this was just a _very bad idea. _As in on a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, this brilliant idea of mine was a twelve and still climbing with every second that passed.

Another horrible, and potentially fatal, character flaw of mine is that I rarely listen to my common sense. If I did I would still be curled up in the warm blankets, dreaming vivid nightmares and waking before daybreak shaking like a leaf. If I ever listened to my common sense I would still be living my miserable excuse of a life which approximated to that of a slave in most ways. So as usual I told my common sense to stick it and uncurled a long length of rope from around my shoulders and attached the three pronged grappling hook to the end. I stood at the very edge of the roof and whirled the hook at my side, wincing at the sound it made whistling through the air as it steadily gained momentum. I released at the correct moment to get maximum distance but to ensure it still dropped lower than my own position. I kept a tight hold of the end as I watched the indistinct hook whistle into the tree line and then disappear. A brief moment later a large bough shook, its leaves rattling unnaturally against the slight breeze.

Eagerly, I took up the slack in the rope and gave a sharp tug, but nothing moved on the other side, the tree branch my hook had wrapped around not even giving a little to my hearty tug. I pulled the rope tight around the spire that jutted up from edge of the roof and tied it off with confident fingers, feeling slightly better now that things were all going right. Without waiting for my excitement to lessen, I dropped down onto the rope and began the long, hard shimmy across, the old rope harsh beneath my fingers. I paused for a short spell when one of the buckles on my boot snagged on a loose fibre and panicked briefly because I couldn't reach back and pull it loose. In the end I got frustrated and just tried to wrench my boot loose which resulted in me hanging by nothing but my hands for a breath taking moment but then I regathered my wits and pulled myself up again, albeit going rather a bit more cautiously than before.

It was in the middle of the rope where it sagged the most that I noticed that the 'slight breeze' I had given so little thought to was actually far stronger than I had realised on the roof. There seemed to be a type of funnel for the wind between the roof and the trees and that didn't make my job much easier as the rope swayed back and forth with gay abandon. At some points it was all I could do to wrap myself around the accursed thing like a limpet and ride out the worst of it. At other points I would have to tilt my head back and stare at the stars for a long while as I waited for the nausea to go back to my gut where it was supposed to be. Strangely enough it was my hair that made me angry, rather than the rest of it. The stupid stuff just kept coming loose from my braid and getting stuck in my ears and eyes, and my mouth especially! All it did was remind me that I hadn't been blessed with an opportunity to wash the filthy strands for over a week and a half.

So it was grumbling that I forced my weary arms to drag me onto the tree branch, not even realising that I had at last covered the entirety of the distance between the roof and the tree line. I cut the line loose with one of my daggers and pulled the hook free, tossing it in a random direction. Then I looked down, knowing I would have to find my way to the ground somehow, but regretted the decision instantly as a giddy feeling crept up from my toes. Frustrated that my issues with heights were choosing tonight of all nights to re-establish themselves, I lowered myself one branch at a time. I wished with all of my heart that I could go faster but one of my mentors gruff voice's kept coming back to me every time I tried to take a short cut or hurry myself: _'Less haste, more speed!'_

It worked, to a degree, as I was soon on the ground even without the broken bones that would normally accompany such a feat. Satisfied that I had even made it this far, I padded off in the dappled shadows of the forest, slinking through the shadows with all the stealth and grace of a wildcat. I was happier down here, with both feet on the ground. Now that I no longer had to be up _there _I was as happy as anything to change my opinion on how I felt about heights. Now I was back on the ground I could go where I would, so long as I didn't go back. There was definitely no going back for me now, even if I wanted to. But I didn't want to and the only thought that starred in my head with any significance was me wondering how far I could get before dawn crept up on me and they were all alerted to my absence…

Knowing that no distance would be far enough I began to jog and before long I was running very nearly flat-lick, the fastest pace I could sustain over any kind of distance. It was like their shadows were already chasing me through the nightscape, not bothering to wait for dawn to chase after me with blood on their minds. It was irrational and more than a little childlike for me to succumb to such horrors but I couldn't help it; all I wanted to do was get away.

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Dawn came sooner than I expected and I went to ground rather like a wild boar. I holed up in a thick section of brush, wriggling my way through its gnarled form with obscure difficulty. The sharp, twiggy branches left scratches and cuts up my biceps and face as I crawled forward on hands and knees, those being the only parts of me left exposed. Once again however I was most frustrated at my hair as it snagged and caught and tore on every thing possible. Eventually, in sheer frustration, I drew my most keen dagger and sliced through the ebony strands, biting back tears of sheer frustration and wanting to punch myself for my own stupidity. I was hating every moment of this, and yet I knew that sacrifices were going to have to be made, were already being made. I love my hair, long, dark and straight as it was, yet it was beginning to drive me over the edge, something I was intending to avoid at all costs. I mean, _I _had enough trouble dealing with myself when I'm sane; imagine would happen to the _world_ if _I_ lost it?

So instead, I told myself I wasn't being altogether too stupid in my actions, and instead kept moving, knowing there had to be a break in the tightly woven brush eventually. I could have gone faster, but I wanted it to be as difficult as possible for those who would undoubtedly pursue to find me, so hacking away at the stupid sticks with my sword wasn't really going to cut it. Well, you know what I mean. In the most non-spiteful way possible, I wanted them to feel the same amount of pain and frustration that I was, and I was certainly going to give it to the fools in any way I could.

Finally, the knotted tangles of branches seemed to break and there was a small enclave with surprisingly soft, springy grass. Relieved beyond belief I curled into a little ball on my side, wishing I had dared to bring a cloak that could double as a blanket. As it was all I had was my tunic and leather vest, so I drew my knees up to my chest and closed my eyes, reminding my ears all the while that they had to stay sharp, even while the rest of me dozed. It didn't take long for me to fall into a fitful sleep, having run constantly for several hours through the night. I was fit, unquestionably so, but it wasn't so much a question of fitness anymore, but of mental fortitude. I knew that my body would continue to carry me until I dropped dead from exhaustion, but that was only if my mind was strong enough to keep my feet moving. Ever since I could remember I had been forced to train my body harshly, to stay in tip-top condition, but they had never given our minds quite the same rigorous training.

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**Author's Note**

**This came about as a sort of predecessor to 'Changing Tides' but technically has absolutely nothing to do with it. I didn't know if I will continue updating this but it has been sitting around on my computer for ages now. Let me know what you think. I have another chapter available if you want it.**

**See any errors? Point them out so I can fix them please!**

**Also, need a title. **


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